The drive home from Orem last night was quite a drive. We’ve driven through some bad storms before. Perhaps the worst one was when we drove to California to clean out Trevor’s apartment after his death. The roads were being closed behind us that day. Another was coming home from Arizona a few years before. We lost part of the car and at times thought we might not get through. Many, many years ago we were driving to Connecticut for Christmas as it began to snow on the New York Expressway. The roads were very slick and we spun out in the middle if the roadway — miraculously missing all the cars around us. Then there was the time as we were on our way home from Church in Ohio and rolled our VW camper-bus onto its side. Everyone came out with no problems and we were able to drive away once the wrecker got the van back on all 4 tires. Last night’s drive probably wasn’t in the top 10 of lousy drives, but it was nevertheless a long and difficult drive. I was quite happy to be home.

The reason for coming home yesterday was so I could attend Stake Council meeting this morning. It was a good meeting and worth the drive. One of the items discussed was the attendance at Stake Conference last week. About 29 percent of the Stake attended. This was considered good. It was a good conference and I was glad to have been there. I’m also glad to be home. Nina will make the drive today — hopefully in the daylight — and I’ll be really glad to have her home!

I’m at the emergency room…. One of the fellows who works for me rolled
his SUV off the side of a hill on his way to work this morning. He’s OK,
just getting checked out. He has just moved here from Dallas, Texas and has
gotten a rude introduction to snowy and icy roads. So, I’m an interested
bystander as I sit here in the waiting room. There are quite a few folks
here — mostly elderly — with a variety of ailments. A couple have been
here a long time waiting to be seen. My guy got in about an hour and a half
after arriving. Four other people are waiting to be seen and two of them
were here before my guy arrived. One is having stomach pains and the other
has been passing blood in his stool. Who knows how much longer they will
have to wait!

From here I’ll take Roy to where they’ve taken his (totalled) vehicle so he
can get his keys, papers and stuff, and the child’s car seat. Then I’ll
take him back to his apartment so he can arrange for a rental car and take
car of his insurance stuff. His day is all screwed up — mine just includes
a visit to the emergency room’s waiting room….
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Church services are almost over. I’m in priesthood meeting where the topic
is “The Restoration.” There are 15 High Priests in attendance. This year
our meetings start at 9 am with Sacrament Meeting. At the appointed hour
there were 66 people in attendance. About 10 minutes later, the attendance
had more than doubled. After the Sacrament was administered, the final
group came in and I counted 154 people. It was interesting.

We did have snow overnight. It followed rain most of the day on Saturday,
so the roads were very slick this morning. I don’t have much planned today
except to get the picture album set up for Heather’s blog and install a new
theme for Jim’s blog. I’m going over to the Stake Center at 4 pm to be set
apart as the Stake Sunday School President. I’m hoping for more snow!
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For Family Home Evening tonight Nina and I are at the Methodist Church in
Pocatello at a flute orchestra concert. The group consists of twelve
flautists (is that what flute players are called?) — 11 women and one man.
The solo guy is in our ward and he’s played his flute with the ward choir
before and is prety good. He also works at the same company that I do and
we see each other most every day. It’s primarily to support him that we’re
here. The music is very good, however, and it’s worth our time to be here.
Jerry is playing a bass flute right now — a very large instrument with a
bend in it. It is kind of shaped like a candy cane, held with the short
side up which has the mouthpiece, then it turns down on the left in a 180
degree turn and all of the finger mechanism is on the lower part. Quite
clever, and I suspect it’s a rather expensive instrument. I should have
brought my camera!
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What a great Thanksgiving dinner at Dawnmarie’s house. I think I need to
sit here a while longer before attempting to move. It feels so good and
tasted so good….
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Winter has definitely arrived here in New Wilmington. Our flight was early
arriving in Cleveland. Jared’s flight was early arriving from Seattle. When
the winds are that strong from west to the east, there’s a definite big
storm here in the eastern part of the country. It’s been snowing all day —
a very light, fine snow with little accumulation so far. Tonight should be
a different story.

We’re here and having fun with kids and grandkids. Lots of preparation work
underway for tomorrow’s feast. Daryl has arrived in Pittsburg, Kirk’s
parents have arrived, so the gang is all here. Let it snow!
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I want to stop flying out of this airport. For the third time this year I
was selected today for “special screening.” I haven’t had that opportunity
anywhere else except here! The screening folks were very nice and very
efficient. There aren’t many passengers here right now, so three people were
available to go through everything in my computer bag. The last time it
took me more than a half-hour to get through this screening. If I thought
it did any good or actually deterred anyone, I wouldn’t grumble about it so
much. But, we’re here, at the gate, and the flight is still on time. That’s
all goodness.
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We’ve arrived at the largest port on the Mediterranean — a title well
deserved. This port is huge! It’s well protected and well established.
We’ll disembark for a tour in about an hour. We’ve had breakfast and a good
night’s sleep. It is cool, a bit breezy, and partly cloudy with a forecast
high of 66 degrees. Just right for sightseeing.

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